


What You Do For Love

by Vanity19C



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/F, Family, Vanity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-07-24 10:57:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16173677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanity19C/pseuds/Vanity19C
Summary: Set a month after the Trial.   What exactly is Charity feeling?    How long can she keep it bottled up?    And will anyone be able to help her?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time ever doing something like this. I thought to just give it a go. Probably rubbish so I'm fine if no one likes it, at least then I'll be able to improve. 
> 
> **= Flashback  
> *= Text Message

Charity was sat around the table staring blankly ahead when a small hand on her knee bought her back into reality. She looked down to see who the hand belonged to “mommy, toast?” Moses asked her, “yeah go on”. She felt empty inside, but didn't want her kids to see it, she wanted to be strong, but didn't know how long she could keep it up. To the side of Moses sat Johnny, the little boy who had recently settled in nicely with her family, sharing toys with Moses, hiding from Noah, watching TV with Debbie, she loved him. Then Vanessa the love her life, she watched as she interacted with the boys over breakfast, which only made Charity feel more guilty over the burden she had placed on Vanessa. She sat there feeling the cracks increasing. Not only had she lived through the most painstaking memories of abuse again, but she actually felt so ashamed of herself because of what happened, because the child his wife is carrying will feel how Ryan felt all those years, not knowing who their parent is because of herself once again. She heard the thoughts in her head and wanted them to leave. She stood from the table alarming the other three, “Hey. You haven't even finished your cup of tea, where you going?” Vanessa asked, somewhat worried, Charity thought fast “to see if the delivery man has turned up yet” she showed a small unwanted smile on her face to which Vanessa just nodded.

Charity walked into the pub and looked at the clock as she picked up a glass, not even 8:30am and she was drinking. Knocking back the whiskey she had just made herself, she hissed at the burn as it went down. Not even the alcohol was helping anymore, tears once again sprung to her eyes, not a day had gone by since the trial had she not shed a tear and it was exhausting. Most of the time she didn't even know she was crying, like the time Chas walked into the backroom.

**“Hey, you haven't seen my...” Chas stopped as Charity turned around, her mascara running down her face. “What have you lost now?”, the openness of her voice scared her, here she was face to face with a tear stained Charity and yet the emotion wasn't in her voice. Chas stood there not knowing what to do, her hand automatically reached into her pocket, pulling out a tissue handing it to Charity who was just as confused. “Why on earth Chastity Dingle are you handing me a tissue?” Charity laughed it off, “it's erm... it... it's for your eyes” Chas wondered why she was so oblivious to the fact she was crying. Charity reached for the tissue, whilst Chas subtly pointed to her face, placing it under her eye, she immediately felt what Chas was talking about. She was sat wiping tears that had fallen to which she didn't even notice. “Hey, can you um...” pointing to her face “forget” “forget” both Dingles said at the same time, “sure” Chas said leaving the room without the object she had gone looking for.**

Since that day, there has been little whispers from Chas to others in the family. The braveness in Charity didn't care, she got on with work, however, the customers were taking the brunt of it from her, from snide remarks she thought she whispered to full on direct insults. But they brushed it off they knew what she was and had been going through. Slowly, one by one the members of the Dingle family saw how Charity was treating herself, how she at first held her head high to cover the pain and the anguish, to how she was now- pushing people away especially Vanessa. Placing the glass on the side Charity went out to the front of the pub, she saw a couple of people sitting outside Bob's cafe soaking up the early sun before it got too hot. Walking round to the side of the pub Charity found her hidden pack of fags, whenever things got too hard she resorted to smoking and always outside. She knew Vanessa didn't really like them, but if it helped her calm down even just a little she didn't mind. Taking one out Charity grabbed the lighter, flashing the flame in front of her, she stared at it- all sorts running through her head. In the end she lit the fag inhaling the smoke, holding her breath for a short second and releasing it, seeing the cloud appear in front of her she let her hand hang loosely. Breathing in the air around her, she started to shake, memories came flooding back, inhaling more of the fag with each memory, letting the ash fall. Before she knew it, she had reached the butt of the fag, and her phone sent a noise, letting her know she had a text. Reaching into her back pocket, she saw Vanessa's name, opening it up, she read *Don't forget a mint before you come in, the boys will know otherwise x* she smiled an actual smile though it's small it made her feel a tiny bit better. 

As she walked into the pub, she noticed Chas getting the bar ready for the day. “Morning” a cheery Chas called “if you say so” Charity said back, Chas knew she was slowly going to hit the ground if she kept on the way she was. “Moses was asking for you just” Chas tried to give her a smile, hoping to receive one back at the mention of the small boy, “yep as always” the dread in Charity's voice, no such luck, she just walked through to the back, hearing the three people she didn't want to ever hurt, giggling at one another. Opening the door, she was met with three bright smiles 'time for a smile' she thought to herself. So that's just what she did. She plastered on the biggest smile that she could and went and joined in, bending down slightly to place a soft, gentle kiss to the top of Vanessa's head which made the blonde vet smile from ear to ear. “Mommy, look!” Moses shouted to Charity whilst pointing at the cars that were on the floor, in a pile. “Oh no! What happened to them?” she played along, Moses began rambling on about the cars and how they had got into a crash. Vanessa was sat to the side, watching the wonderful woman she loved playing with not only Moses, but Johnny as well, which only warmed her heart even more. She watched as the blonde barmaid listened to what the two boys had to say, and playing with the cars, crashing them into one another, eliciting a loud round of laughs from the boys. The one thing Vanessa could see was that Charity was still in so much pain, every time she looked into those beautiful green eyes she saw the affliction, torture, agony, suffering that lay there, that lay there since she set eyes on the woman, just at the time they were well hidden. 

Vanessa knew Charity was going through a bad time, all she had done was push Vanessa away, but like always, Vanessa stood by her even when she didn't want her to, Vanessa backtracked to the day after the trial. **Charity had spontaneously decided they should go into town, even though Vanessa didn't think she'd be up for it after everything, especially after how upset Charity was earlier in the day. Charity had kept telling her how fine, she was and Vanessa had told her how it's not the end of how she was feeling, and that there's no way she could be fine. Vanessa only wanted to show her how it was okay to talk about how she's feeling, instead of opening up Charity blew up. “Is this what you were like with Rhona?, I mean no wonder why she couldn't stop popping pills.” there it was, the thing that stung Vanessa, she had to admit, she didn't think Charity would apologise so soon after saying it but she did. She told Charity that she doesn't think she can/is helping her not the way she thinks she needs help.

She could see the change in Charity's eyes, whatever was going to happen was going to be hard. Vanessa had told her to “say whatever you want to say”, Vanessa was a bit unnerved by the way Charity had just sat down and done her make-up in the middle of a slight argument they were having. Charity bit back “ I'm sorry, I thought you wanted me to save it all up for my therapist”. Vanessa hated it at times like this when Charity was so stubborn. “So you don't think it could help to talk?”, “well, I've got this far without it so”. Charity knew Vanessa was right, but there was no way she was going to sit down with someone and tell them all about her evil past once again. “look things have been tough, I'm not denying that, but do you know what, they always have been, and I can handle this, just like I've had to handle everything else life has thrown at me”, as soon as she said it flashes of everything had come back, getting her kid taken off her at the age of 13, becoming a prostitute, thinking her second kid had died- so she left him when she was only 14, marrying someone who killed himself and framed her for murder, being in a toxic relationship with the father of her first child, marrying a man who then went and had a kid with another woman- who was the same man who locked her in a shipping container for days, marrying another man who also tried to kill her after killing his own nephew. The memories came flooding back. 

She could hear Vanessa talking behind her, when she finally started to listen to what she was saying Vanessa was talking about “have you ever stopped to think that maybe you don't know what's best, not always”, “no because you know why I don't stop to think, if you want to know the truth, I just get up and get on with it”. Charity stands from the chair where she had been applying her make-up. Vanessa wasn't backing down, “Charity it's okay to admit that you're not coping, it's okay to ask for help, no one's judging you.”, here it was the sarcastic Charity “Okay, you've said your piece you've done your bit” rubbing her hands down both of Vanessa's arms “and now you can rest easy”, “Look I could just play along. Good old Charity look how quickly she bounces back, but I can't and I won't because you're not fooling me” Charity looks dumbfounded and starts to look at the floor, “you need to talk to someone, someone who could really help”. She could see Vanessa's face and how much she wanted to help Charity, but she wasn't going to have this talk right now, sure she wanted to get over whatever the heck was going on but, did it mean having to relive it all over again and again. To get closure did it mean she had to go back to her dad, to where it all started. She wasn't going to have this conversation with Vanessa at the moment, she just wanted to cover it all, “I need some lipstick” with her arms folded she ran up the stairs before Vanessa had time to breathe. She had found the lipstick and whilst putting it on decided that she wanted to forget everything that happened, forget the whole Bail's situation, forget the reason why she left her son when he was born, she wanted to get to know him better, she wanted him to connect with his other siblings, she wanted to have her family again. She knew it was going to be hard to keep it controlled, but she was going to try. 

Walking back down the stairs, she saw Vanessa over by the side of the sink, pouring two glasses of wine. “I'm sorry if you think I crossed the line”, she didn't want to talk about it, “oh go on then, I reckon there's just time for a cheeky glass before the taxi gets here,” Vanessa wasn't responding to her, her back was towards her whilst pouring the wine and Charity felt a tiny bit awkward because she knew why Vanessa wasn't facing her, she's kind of glad she doesn't have to look at her because if she did, she would fall apart because of how caring and amazing the tiny blonde is to her. “Gotta say, Tracey's make-up isn't as cheap as you'd think, some of it anyway.”. Vanessa piped up huffing her shoulders and stopping pouring the wine, still facing away from Charity, “You're mad at me just admit it”, “I will be if you don't pour that wine come on” Charity looked like a 3 year old, too impatient to get to the checkout so they could have their toy, so Vanessa done just that and poured the wine. Picking both glasses up Vanessa finally turned to face Charity and walked towards her handing her the glass, “cheers”. Charity raised the glass to her lips taking a sweet sip of the dark wine, “So, we're pretending that everything's just fine are we, like I didn't say what I said”, Charity looked at Vanessa 'those blue eyes are going to be the death of me' she thought to herself, “who's pretending” there it was Charity's defence popping up when she knew she should be open with the woman in her life. Taking another sip of her wine Charity released a “hmm” of contentment, nodded her head as she finished, “there, I already feel a hundred times better than I did.” she smiled at Vanessa who had her head hung slightly. “What happened with Bails, it's too big to lock up in a box...” Charity's face was a blank stare, but inside, her mind flashed back to the box of things she had kept of Ryan's, flashed back to that tiny blue hat, “you've tried that maybe this is where you have to stop...” Vanessa nodded slightly, “before the wheels come off once and for all”, Charity bit back sarcastically “well, it's a very big box Vanessa and there are no wheels” finishing with a smile. Vanessa's face looked distraught, shaking her head with her eyes closed “please don't turn this into a joke,” she opened her eyes just in time to see Charity jokingly, with a smile on her face, “sometimes it's like you don't know me at all” at this point Vanessa rolled her head back and sighed, bringing her head forward she licked her bottom lip and brought it in between her teeth before releasing it again.

Looking at Charity who was flailing her hands about in front of her as if to show Vanessa her body, “and this is actually the point where you are supposed to tell me how hot I'm looking” with a smile on her face as she looked at Vanessa, who in turn was looking Charity up and down seductively, with lust in her eyes, “never known you look anything but”. She looked dead into Charity's eyes, raised her right eyebrow and flashed a smirk cocking her head to the side slightly. Charity moved swiftly, placing her wine glass on the small table next to the sofa, moving towards Vanessa with love in her eyes, “well show me then,” she took hold of Vanessa's neck with both hands and brought her to her, in a matter of urgency. Charity locked lips with the smooth, soft feeling of Vanessa's, tasting the wine she had just drank a minute ago, Charity was about to deepen things when suddenly Vanessa pulled away, shocked Charity looked at her. “What is it the lipstick? Should I have a word?” the whole time looking from Vanessa's lips to her eyes. Vanessa turned her head, which was now also held by Charity 's thumbs and forefingers, it was a quick movement in which she placed the glass of wine on the dining table and looked straight back at Charity passion in her eyes, only looking down, smiling, to see her lips, which were covered by her own in a couple of seconds. Vanessa brought Charity into her with her hands tousled in the taller woman's hair. The space between was still so big in Charity's mind, bringing her arm around the back of Vanessa's neck and pulling her in closer, meant that their kiss was deepened and more passion ensued. Charity's heart started racing as did Vanessa's, they both thought 'if anyone was around, they'd be able to feel the heat radiating off us'. They separated only for a short time, returning with mouths open as tongues met, making the kiss more intense.**

As Vanessa remembers what happened that night after the kiss, Moses walks up to her with a sheep in his hand, “Ness, Mommy said you fix him, he's sick”, being brought out of her thoughts, she looked at Charity, who was sitting on the floor playing with Johnny whilst Moses was stood in front of her. Smiling at the interaction, she faced Moses, who was stood with the sheep in his hands wanting an answer. “Sure, come on he needs to lie down”, grabbing her hand the two walked over to the dinning table. Charity was sat playing with Johnny, out the corner of her eye, she saw her little boy talking to Vanessa and then walking off with her so that they can 'fix' the sheep. Looking down at Johnny, who was quietly playing with the dinosaurs, she slipped into her thoughts again,' alcohol' was all she could think.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is finished the way it is because of what happens in the next chapter. 
> 
> Sorry for the shortness and sorry if it's boring!

They stayed playing and talking to the boys for another hour and a half when Charity looked up at the clock, “shit” she cursed to herself. The two boys in front of her laughed, “Charity, the boys” Vanessa said smiling. Charity apologised and stood up fixing her clothes out, “babe, I've got to start work, if you want take them to the park and then bring them back for their tea, I'll see if Chas will let me have time to eat today”, “sure, how about that boys, going to the park, yeah?” both boys nodded and cheered. “Take that as a yes then” Vanessa said, Charity smiled. “Come on get your coats and shoes on so you can go on the swings” Charity called. The two boys ran out the room and back in with their coats and shoes, Charity and Vanessa helped them to put everything on. When they were done Charity gave each boy a kiss on the top of their heads “be good”, “we will!” they shouted running out of the room. Charity knew she was dragging Vanessa down and felt bad for doing it, as Vanessa went to walk past her, used to Charity not wanting to kiss goodbye lately. Charity put her hand out and grabbed Vanessa's wrist, Vanessa stood still as Charity stepped in front of her smiling, she leaned forward and captured Vanessa lips in a sweet, tender kiss, it only lasted a few seconds but it was the first kiss on their lips that had happened in a while. Pulling apart Charity looked down at Vanessa witnessing the brightest smile appear on the other woman's face. They both stood there just staring at the other when the boys ran into the room “COME ON!” they shouted to Vanessa, causing both women to laugh, before leaving Vanessa kissed Charity on the cheek “see you in a bit” “yeah, see you boys”, “BYE!” they shouted back too excited to get to the park.

Charity walked into the pub seeing the usual customers sat around talking to one another. Chas was serving someone when Charity turned to the spirits quickly and began pouring herself one. She didn't know whether she had accomplished her goal of being unseen by Chas but she would soon find out. Placing the glass on the wooden surface, scowling at the harsh burn of the drink, she heard Chas coughing behind her, the blonde slowly turned around “what?” the word seemed to drag out, Chas stared at her, before she went to say anything Charity interrupted, “actually babe, someone needs serving, so let me do it”. Charity walked over to the youngish lad and began flirting, she instantly regretted it thinking about Vanessa. “You have your drink, so go” feeling guilt ridden. “Charity!” Chas called, “Chas, stop...” pulling her hand in front of her making Chas stop whatever she was about to say, the action bringing back memories of shutting Paddy up, when she outed Vanessa in front of everyone in the pub. “Nothing needs to be said, okay?”. The tension between the two continued for the hour they had been working together. After a little disagreement with a customer Charity walked to the end of the bar placing her elbows on the wooden surface and throwing her head into her hands, “Charity you need to stop talking to the customers like that, do you want to lose this place?”, Chas was getting frustrated but so was Charity as she released a sigh. They worked another hour, with Charity drinking here and there whenever Chas wasn't looking. They hardly spoke, until Charity heard the laughs of the two boys she adored. Walking in through the pub doors with Vanessa behind them, Chas saw a visible change in Charity, who had been slumped over the bar about to give up. When those three people walked in, she straightened up and was inviting, showing a smile to the kids and a smirk to Vanessa, Chas thought about how much that woman and that boy had completely changed Charity.

The two boys ran up to Charity hugging her legs, “Hey, you two. Did you have fun?”, “Yeah!” they screamed. Vanessa walked up to Charity running her hand along her arm as they shared a subtle smile, she continued through to the backroom with the boys. Charity adorned her smile as she heard the two boys talking Vanessa's head off about some new cartoon they want to watch. Even though the people she loved more than anything were back, the pain was still inside Charity and once again took over her thoughts. She took a sip of a drink she had left on the side by the bottles of alcohol grimacing at the burn it left behind. Chas shook her head at how Charity was behaving, she had, had enough of her self pity. Turning to Charity Chas spoke, “sort yourself out Charity”, “you know what, I'm not staying in here with you, I'm going to join Vanessa and the boys” and with that Charity had disappeared into the back. Before reaching the three waiting for her, she popped into the pub kitchen, and asked Marlon if he would be able to do their tea, to which he happily agreed. Slowly stumbling towards the door, Charity knew she had to put a front on, she opened the door and smiled widely to the boys and walked to the sink to get a glass of water. If she was going to enjoy this time with Vanessa, Johnny and Moses she wanted to be able to remember it. Vanessa looked at Charity's back as she faced looking out the window, she saw the slump of her shoulders and knew she was holding something back, she just wished she would talk to her about it. Before Charity spotted her Vanessa looked back to the boys who were gladly playing with their toys on the floor.

“So Marlon has said he is going to cook you two your favourite pasta and meatballs” the two boys cheered as they always did whenever food was mentioned, for two small boys they did enjoy eating. Charity sat down next to Vanessa, who was still watching the boys with a smile upon her face. “How did the park go?” Charity asked, Vanessa lent back into the sofa, “they loved it, at one point I thought I had lost them but they were playing underneath the slide”. Charity reached down and placed her hand on top of Vanessa's, who was surprised, Charity turned her hand over and interlocked their fingers. Showing a small smile to Vanessa, who spoke “you okay?”, there it was Charity thought, the one question she hated the most, “yeah, I'm good” both women knew she was lying but chose not to ask or answer the unvoiced question 'you sure?'. They sat there for a while, quietly talking, watching the boys play when Marlon came through with their food. “Johnny, Moses” Vanessa called to them “come wash your hands”, Charity helped Marlon place the food on the dinning table as Vanessa was helping the boys wash their hands. As the boys and Vanessa sat down, Charity poured the boys a glass of apple juice each, “hold on babe, I'll go get us a glass of wine to enjoy” Charity said smiling widely. She walked into the bar and looked at Chas, “getting a glass of wine, if I can for me and Vanessa to drink with our meal.” Chas showed a stern face, “comes to something when you have to explain to me why your getting alcohol”. Charity just scoffed, whispering things under her breath. She poured a glass of wine, downing it as quickly as she could before pouring another and a second one for Vanessa. Picking up the two glasses she decided that the bottle of wine would be just as good, saving her keep walking into the pub to be met with Chas. She put a glass down and shoved the bottle of wine under her arm and placed the glass in her hand again, making her way through to the back, she began giggling to herself, for why, she had no idea.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for how long its taken me to upload this, you know sometimes life gets in the way. I hope you enjoy it!

They'd been sat eating and enjoying their food, with conversations here and there and Vanessa's hand every now and again reaching Charity's knee. Everything was going fine until they heard the back door to the pub opening, and in walked Noah. “Doesn't this look cosy?” the sarcasm dripping from his voice, Vanessa slowly placed her fork on her plate and looked at him, whereas Charity ignored him and carried on eating her food with a little puff of air escaping her lips. Noah dropped onto the sofa and started the TV. Charity was trying so hard to ignore him, the past couple of days he wasn't that nice to anyone who got in his path, and she wasn't going to go there with him. As she, Johnny and Moses continued eating, Vanessa spoke to Noah again “Noah I can do you a sandwich if you want, if you're hungry?” Noah didn't even bother to look at her to reply “Nah”, “you sure? I can make you one and then put it aside in case you fancy it later”. This time Noah turned fast and stood up off the sofa. “What don't you get I don't want ANYTHING from you, never have never will. Anything you touch I don't want, you're just a waste”. Charity saw how deflated Vanessa looked hanging her head low and it broke her heart, before she knew what she was doing the alcohol had kicked in “ Noah don't say that!” Noah looked directly at Charity which provoked her even more, “Why are you even with her?” he asked as if Vanessa wasn't in the room. Charity looked at Vanessa who now had her head completely hung, trying not let the tears spill. “You are a spiteful kid Noah!” Vanessa's head sprung up looking at Charity, where was all this coming from, she thought to herself. 

“Vanessa has tried everything for you to like her, and you still treat her like shit” the two smaller boys started to giggle a little bit. “What does she have to do huh? Treat you like a king? Buy you things?” Noah had gone red with anger. “I want her gone! I don't see why you are with her?”, Vanessa couldn't look at either Dingle but instead looked at the two boys who was becoming a bit scared, smiling at them to try and reassure them everything was fine when in all honesty she knew it wasn't. Charity and Noah were still arguing, “the thing is you'll probably sleep with someone else whilst she's down here with them two”, “don't be so stupid Noah”, Vanessa was trying not to listen to what they were saying but their voices had raised in volume. “What it's never stopped you before, even with my dad you went about shagging Cain”. Charity's mouth fell open in shock, “don't you dare use that language. And for your information, your dad was an evil man, killing himself and framing me, yeah, Noah, that's a man that everyone should welcome with open arms.” Vanessa could sense how angry Charity was getting so reached her hand out and lightly touched Charity's, eliciting a moan from Noah. “ you two are a joke, do you know that”, “Noah, please” Vanessa began before being interrupted “Oh, just shut up, why do you always have to be here, why do you always want to be speaking. Shut your mouth, no one wants to hear it!” Charity felt her anger begin to rise the heat had reached from her feet to her head a lot quicker than usual, the alcohol she had been drinking all day probably had something to do with that.

Vanessa shut out from the argument, she didn't want to hear what Noah had to say right at this moment. However, she could see how Charity was getting, angrier by the second. She kept her focus on the two younger boys only ever looking over at Charity when Noah had annoyed herself. But this time she turned to face them because what Noah had said was truly horrifying. Stood in front of his mom, Noah gritted his teeth and inched his head forward so he was closer to his mothers face. “You deserved what Bail's did to ya”, Charity slammed her glass on the table alarming the two younger boys, she inched closer to Noah, “I mean when haven't you ever been in bed with someone, wouldn't surprise me if you begged for it, you already wasn't a virgin, you'd had Debbie with your own cousin. How disgusting are you” Charity could feel the tears springing to her eyes, she went to speak when Noah continued. “why did you have kids aye? Was it to show off? Did you have any more whilst Bail's...” making air quotations “'raped' you, yeah, there's Ryan, but you sure none of the others got you knocked up and you fortunately lost them? I mean come on you were a prostitute, probably still are you sure you didn't have sex with them men so you could get the money? Charity you've been nothing but hell to all of us, you might as well have stayed wherever you were the other night and not have come back. One of the three Christian virtues, yeah right, you're nothing, never have been, never will be.” Reaching for her right arm, which she was so reluctant to give him, he pulled the sleeve back, showing the scar that sat there. Both Charity and Vanessa winced silently, they had spoken about it before, but not in depth and not since the night it was first seen. Charity looked at the top of her son's head, “please, no,” she whispered, willing him to stop before anything was said that was regretted. Her tears had started roaming her face, she was so ashamed and now her son was pointing this out of all things. Tracing the scar heavily, Charity grimaced as one of Noah's nail's dug into her arm just past the scar. 

The sobs had come full blown now, she didn't know what to do she was so angry, so upset, so determined to stop whatever was happening with her son. “You're just a failure at everything aren't you?” looking down at her scar Noah used his other hand to go into his trouser pocket and pulled a small knife out. “Here, why don't you finish what you started” holding the knife out to Charity whose, left hand had begun to shake as it reached to Noah's own. Vanessa's own tears had spilt, “everything you thought about yourself is true. Anyone who said they loved you was either lying or wrong.” The two small boys were looking between the three older people in the room and then at Vanessa, who quietly told them to move from the table and to go by the sofa, they did so although they were unsure why and began to panic. “You know Charity if you died tonight, nothing would be different tomorrow.” Vanessa saw red. “How dare you speak to your mum like that, who are you to be talking to her in that way?” a sly smirk came across Noah's face. “Charity has done everything for you, for everyone...”, the argument had got that heated they could hear it through in the pub. Chas being Chas, walked up to the door that led into the backroom, she had been stood there for what felt like hours listening to the argument when Marlon along with Cain and Moira had joined her. “What is going on in there?” Moira asked, looking just as confused as the others. “I have no idea, all I know is that Charity went on her break to have tea with Vanessa and the little ones”, Chas spoke. She turned to Marlon, “did everything seem fine when you went in?”, Marlon nodded his head “yeah, everything was fine, they were talking and playing with the boys”.

They once again heard someone shouting, “Just shut up!” Noah was getting agitated and with him holding a knife it wasn't a good mix. “You're all the same every single one of you, what, you didn't have a rebellious teenager stage to see whether you wanted to shack up with a girl?”. Vanessa smirked because she knew she did in her teenage years and adult years, “yeah I did actually Noah. It's not something you can just pick to be, it's who you are, you might not always know it, but it's always there, I knew I liked girls, heck at one point I even liked boys. It doesn't make anyone less of a person”. Noah stalked forward, reaching Vanessa, holding the knife in front of him “It's disgusting, that's what it is”. Vanessa's heartbeat quickened and her eyes flashed to the two young boys. She felt Charity next to her reach out for her hand. Seeing the interaction Noah spoke, “can't even keep your hands to yourselves for more than five minutes can ya?”. Behind the door, they were all curious, “what on earth is Noah going on about?” Marlon asked. What none of them knew was that he was holding a knife, which would only intensify their reactions to what was happening. 

In the room Charity was starting to panic, looking over at the two smaller boys spoke, “Noah, why don't you let them go upstairs, yeah? They don't need to be in here”. Noah shot the boys a look, “fine, go on Moses go upstairs with Johnny”, “I want to stay with mommy” Moses said to his older brother. Charity's grip on Vanessa's hand got stronger, “just go upstairs and grow up.” Vanessa looked at the boys and nodded her head. They started to move but stopped to look at the three, “I'm scared” Johnny said, the tear ran down Charity's face as well as Vanessa's own. “Baby, it's ok, we're all good here, go upstairs with Moses, yeah, we'll be up later to play”, she could see the worry in both the boys eyes but had to hold herself together if she was going to try and stop whatever was happening. 

Outside the room the same people were stood listening. Cain faced Chas “why don't one of us just go in and pretend we went in for something?”, Chas looked at him, “he's the genius ladies and gents here all week. Don't you think I would have done that already. If it's an argument between Charity and Vanessa, I don't want to get in between that and I doubt you would either.” Cain pulled a face of realisation as soon as Chas had finished talking. Whilst back in the room Noah had moved away from Charity and Vanessa and had started walking back and forth.


End file.
